Virtuals
Virtuals are electronic games that involves human interaction with a tactile neural interface to generate sensory feedback through a computer. The word virtual is a shorthand term for virtual reality, and was a holdover term from several false starts and non-feedback VR that predated Tactile Neural Interfaces. Virtuals have become an art form and an industry. The virtual industry is by far the largest entertainment industry with, as of 2160, generated sales of USD 791 billion annually systemwide. History Early virtuals used interactive electronic devices with display visors and incorporated audio feedback. The earliest example is the 1985 DataGlove by VPL Research, but the first commercially successful interface--often considered to be the first successful virtual reality game console ever-- was the Oculus Rift by Oculus VR in 2016. The success of Oculus drove major players in the video game and movie industry to begin creating content for virtual reality interfaces. Valve, Sony, and Nintendo all raced to produce their own VR systems, while Microsoft partnered with Oculus. In 2021, Epic Games unveiled the first improvosational AI for Unreal Engine 5 to enable developers to populate games with NPCs that didn't require hundreds of voice actors to generate unique dialogue or behavior for each character. This development was timed to launch with the Sony PlayStation V, the first console to include a VR headset as a standard launch feature. Unlike earlier iterations of VR, the console could record audio for player/character interactions, sense intended and actual motion (making it possible for some players to barely move while playing), and could even have player characters produce facial expressions for online play and NPC interaction. Rockstar games included Grand Theft Auto 7 in an exclusive deal with Sony to launch their virtual gaming system. GTA 7 would go on to major commercial success, and led numerous other companies to develop open world Virtuals and their own systems, spawning the virtual industry. A flood of open world virtuals eventually led to the video game crash of 2025, which came to an end with the mainstream success of Neurosystem's 2029 sword fighting game Sengoku Blade, marking the beginning of the golden age of sensory feedback virtuals and inspiring dozens of manufacturers to enter the market. The game inspired tactile neural interfaces to become prevalent in mainstream retailers. Microsoft announced the closure of its XBox division in favor of licencing dedicated gaming software for TNIs. Sony followed suit which helped them recover from their earlier losses. The 2030s saw virtuals eclipse traditional video games, but also television series and movies production companies began using new motion capture technology to screen films virtually for maximum immersion. These would go on to become the first Experience Series where the viewer would be watching events take place from the perspective of someone in the crowd. In 2039 smart NPCs had become sufficiently advanced for some production houses to release Experience Series that users could directly interact with as a lead or self-insert character. That same year the first TV series were adapted for VR interaction, primarily cartoons and CG series from the end of the 20th Century to the American Animation Renaissance of the 2010s. These were some of the first series to employ digital conversion technologies and limited computer generated animation, which was easier for early VR conversion systems to render characters and settings. The release of these new and rebooted franchises coincided with the 2030s Anime Renaissance which lasted until US-Japanese relations deteriorated in the mid-2040s. By 2041 the US military having been experimenting with virtuals as a means of educating soldiers in simulated combat scenarios without risking their lives, began testing time dilation perception technology to reduce the amount of realtime for a soldier to learn a skill or simulate an war-game. The technology would not enter the public domain until after World War III, but would go on to be adopted by a number of education centers as means of accelerated learning. By the middle of the 2060s it was common practice for universities to offer purely virtual courses and simulated internships, increasing employee productivity and experience in far less time. Tactile-Neural Interface While TNIs were never created with the intent to be used for virtuals, modern virtuals wouldn't have been possible without TNIs. Originally developed by the communications industry as a new form of user interface for wearables, the virtual industry quickly adopted tactile neural interfaces as a means of more immersive experiences for users. Initially debuted as a way to sense user gestures, mood, and expressions, it wasn't until 2034 that the first sensory feedback virtuals entered mass market. TNI technology advanced by quantum leaps during WWIII, and post war technology transfer programs introduced the public to virtual time dilation and full immersion VR, which let users remain motionless while using tactile neural interfaces and play games that are perceived to last longer than in realtime. Education and training While virtual entertainment is the most profitable market for Virtuals and Experience series, virtuals are also widely used for education and training programs. Sports teams use virtuals to run practice games off-season across professional, college, and even high-school level teams. Many employers use virtuals to prepare employees for new tasks and job duties, as well as training themselves in company war-games. Experience feeds are often used in concert with these training programs to let teams or individuals test skills from the recorded experiences of previous individuals or teams. Militaries use these types of virtuals to not only simulate previously fought battles, but to reformat the tactics for new eras to drill new recruits and seasoned veterans for combat. Education centers use virtuals in concert with direct-downloads to place students in simulated projects and situations to test their practical application of mathematics, history, sociology, etc. Law schools employ virtual recreations of major court cases with the most prestigious schools creating detailed profiles for character AIs of judges, litigators, and even members of the jury. Architectural and Engineering schools operate almost entirely in virtual so that students can practice routine industry procedure and create buildings, vehicles, and entire cites. Experience Series Experience Series gained popularity in the 2040s as a new class of virtual that enabled users to watch directed series or movies from any perspective they chose. While popular opinion of the era was that traditional actors would be rendered obsolete by the creation of Smart NPCs, Experience series saw the dawn of a new field of acting. It was no longer enough for an actor to project drama, they had to experience it to such a degree that someone watching could interface with their recorded emotional state and neural feedback and experience what the actors felt during their performance. During World War III, a popular form of Experience media came from battlefield recordings of soldiers in the field. Most news outlets prefer to use Experience feeds streamed directly from humans with backup memory drives as a means of emotionally connecting the public to events. Popular Virtuals *'Saurian 2: Global Edition '(2021) - A sequel to 2017's bestselling dinosaur simulator Saurian, ''featuring the first non-human simulations in a mass-market Virtual. In addition to the Hell Creek Formation setting of the original , it introduced four new settings: the Morrison Formation in Utah, the Chinle Formation in New Mexico, the Yixian Formation in China, and the Bahariya Formation in Egypt. *'Westworld: The Game'(2021) - Based on the popular HBO series, featured an early attempt at improvisational character interactions. Praised at the time for non-linear storytelling, the game still operated on the same scripted "branching paths" paradigm that had been in place for decades. *'Fallout V''' (2022) - Set in Florida just after the events of Fallout 4. You are a vault dweller of a vault that was conquered and resealed by the Enclave. The Vault's reactor melts down and you and your people are forced back up into the surface to find a new home. Included remastered maps and AI from Fallout 3 and 4. *'The Simpsons VR' (2022) - An adaptation of the animated TV series, in which players create their own character and interact with characters from the show while foiling Montgomery C. Burns' plot to turn Springfield into a private resort. Praised for maintaining the tone of the series, but still retained a scripted storyline. *'Harry Potter: Hogwarts Experience' (2023) - *'Call of Duty:' Advanced Warfare 3 '(2023) - *'Tier One: Desert Storm (2023) - You play as a Navy SEAL operator in Iraq on a dark and twisted road following Saddam's genocide of the Kurds. Praised for its dark storytelling and uncompromising view of US foreign policy in the Mid-east. *'Halo: Anniversary' (2023) - Complete remaster of all 7 Halo games and new gameplay and stories adapted from the novelizations. *'Sims Virtual' (2025) - The last game in the famous Sims franchise. Believed by many to have caused the Video Game Crash of 2025, as well as contributing to the downfall of Electronic Arts. *'Grand Theft Auto 7' (2026) - Set in Queen City (Charlotte). You create a character who gets mixed up in a gang war between the displaced, but still powerful Italian Mob and local street gangs in Queen City. *'Sengoku Blade' (2029) - First TNI Virtual. You play as a Samurai during the Sengoku period of Japan's feudal wars. After the American sanctions on Japanese products in the 2040s and 2050s, bootlegged copies of this game were extremely popular and have come to fetch high prices. *'Realm of Avalon '(2031) - Classic western fantasy game. Incorporated procedural boss systems made famous in the "Shadow of Mordor" series, but expanded it to include all NPCs. Players would not only shape the villains of the game, but their allies and support characters. Players would have to build up an army from a minor house in a fantasy Kingdom to challenge the ruling monarch. *'Fallout: Online 1 '(2032) - The first massively multiplayer online role play game in virtual reality, it is set in the most of the Mid-Western United States in the late 24th century, with a ruined Chicago being the most important major city. *'Skychasers' (2034) - Deiselpunk flight combat game set during the golden age of seaplane travel, with both real and fictional aircraft designs available to players. *'League of Legends VR: Runeterra' (2034) - Released on the 25th anniversary on the first League of Legends, the game is a virtual reality adaptation of its predecessor. The game also features open hub worlds where players (called "summoners") can interact with each other through their avatars or champions they created and participate in duels. The game became very popular for E-sports tournaments throughout the 21st century. *'Pokemon Cosmos/Infinity' (2036) - Set in the universe of the Pokemon franchise, covering all twelve generations up to this point. You create and play as your own character, but can interact with characters in the games. Praised for its status as Nintendo's first entry into the Virtual market, but criticized for the linearity of the main story. *'Big O: Negotiator Files' (2036) - An adaptation of the Big O anime in which as players control Roger Smith from the series to solve several new cases created just for the game. Was praised for being one of the first anime-to-virtual conversions. As with many other Japanese Virtuals, it was heavily pirated during the sanctions. *'Gravity Falls' (2037) - First western animated series to be converted to Virtual. Praised for the degree at which players could alter the course of events in the show. However, stories were still concentrated to episodic events to limit player ability to change the whole story of the series. *'Trigun: Gunsmoke' (2037) - Set in the universe of Trigun. Unlike Pokemon Cosmos/Infinity or Gravity Falls, Trigun permitted full player impact on the story. It was actually possible to kill major characters and continue with the story from the player's perspective. *'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (2038) - A game set based on the TV series of the same name, it revived the popularity of the series after its end back in the early 2000's, and became one of the most commercially successful virtuals of the late 2030's. *'Dragon Ball: Another Road' (2038) - Based on the popular Dragon Ball Side Story Manga and bonus levels from previous Dragon Ball games. *'Project Oasis '(2038) -''' A former private project turned public that attempted to create an MMOSG game inspired by the virtual world of Ready Player One. It is a virtual world where people can engage in numerous activities for work, education, and entertainment. It found considerable success for a few decades. It is also considered by many a spiritual successor to VRChat. *'''Fullmetal Alchemist (2039) - *'Steven Universe' (2039) - As with Gravity Falls ''and ''Avatar: the Last Airbender, ''this game was released 20 years after the end of the TV series on which it was based in order to capitalize on the resurgent popularity of animated series from the 2010s in this decade. *'Half-Life 3 (2048) - Released after a long wait on the 50th anniversary of the Half-life series, it is set at an unknown time after Half Life 2: Episode 3. It continues the adventures of Gordon Freeman beyond Earth. *'''Devil Dogs: Battle for the Pacific (2049) - Set during WWII's Pacific theater, following a US Marine from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa. *'X Day: War for Japan' (2053) - Set in an alternate timeline where the Trinity test is not successful and the US is forced to invade Japan. *'Dracula: Vampire Wars' (2054) - Set during the Ottoman invasion of Romania. You play as Vlad the Impaler and battle as a Vampire against the Ottoman Empire. *'Guns of Warsaw' (2058) - Set during the Battle of Poland. Player jumps between perspectives of Polish Army defenders, US Armored Infantry, and Hungarian partisans. *'Moon Over Chicago' (2061) - Set in just before the Great Fire in Chicago, you play as a werewolf attempting to rescue his lover from a cult of religious fanatics. Featured some of the first body transformation engines, capitalizing on popularity of genetic modification. *'Skinchangers' (2065) - Set in an urban fantasy world, players take the role of Druid detectives, changing into animals (including such obscure species as elephant shrews, trap-jaw ants, hooded pitohuis, and Humboldt squid) to solve mysteries. *'Epoch: Victoria '(2066) - Most advanced simulation virtual of the era. Starts players off in 1840 and gives them the power to select and lead an existing nation or create a new one. Players can craft vehicles and weapons, infrastructure, and form alliances up to 1920. *'Echoes of the Stars (2067) - One of the first Japanese virtuals to achieve mainstream success in the US once sanctions were lifted after World War III. A science-fiction game where players defend Earth from inter-dimensional monsters; a deliberate homage to classic anime such as ''Neon Genesis Evangelion. *'The Dark Tower: Rise of the Gunslinger '(2085) - Based on the series of novels by Stephen King, players assume the role of Roland of Gilead, the legendary Gunslinger of Mid-World, and guide him in his quest for the Dark Tower and seeking the mysterious Man in Black. Notable for having multiple equally valid ending scenarios. *'''The Lost Tome: Reclamation (2103) - *'Dreamwalker' (2110) - *'Epoch: Dynasties '(2119) - Most advanced anthropology engine ever employed for a virtual. Lets a player select a region of the world 10,000 BCE and create a civilization from the ground up with accurate projections of the growth of other civilizations around the world and the impact of the player's civilization on global events. *'Beyond the Aether' (2154) - An exploration game where the player can explore the Sol system and several other planets in the 2140s during the Terran Diaspora. *'Ragnarok' (2156) - An open world that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Sol system where the Third Mexican-American War lasted slightly longer that would eventually lead to the destruction of infrastructure and civilized society in the Sol system. The player assumes a role of a survivor waking up on Earth, 15 years after doomsday. Category:Entertainment Category:Technology Category:Popular Culture